Gossip Ladies
by omegaw
Summary: We hear so much about the gossips at court, but we never get to meet them. Here is Gossip Central, discussing the latest news about at certain Master Mage and his "student" ...
1. Chapter 1

Thanks for the reviews! I changed the style at the second part ...

Hi! This is my first fanfic, so reviews are very welcome. Also, as I am not a native speaker, you will probably find some mistakes. They are (of course) made on purpose to amuse the readers :-)

About the rating: It is all talk here, but gossip would be boring without speculations with sexual content. This chapter is rather tame (Daine has not even arrived yet), but we know the gossip ladies will have them in bed very soon. If anyone thinks the rating is inappropriate, please tell me so.

Omegaw

Disclaimer: Tamora Pierce owns the universe of Tortall and the characters talked about.

Gossip Lady

Gossip Central in the palace of Corus was in a middle sized parlour close to the grand ballroom. This was the usual meeting space of Lady Katrira of Oakvalley, Lady Mathena of Gabin and Lady Sumana of Peon's Hill. Together they were the best gossips at court – or the worst, depending on your point of view.

Katrira was the beauty of the trio with black hair, light blue eyes and a very fair complexion. She had an elegant, willowy figure and danced – as one besotted squire once put it – like a young goddess. Maybe one of the young goddesses out there did not like to be compared to a mere mortal, because said besotted squire got into a fistfight the very next day and none of the healers could explain why his black eye would not fade for over two month. Anyway, Katrira was much admired by the young men at court; many of them would use any excuse to talk to her and stand out among her admirers. Therefore she had many useful sources of news about the pages, squires and young knights. Other than her remarkable beauty and useful connections she had one distinguishing feature which made her irreplaceable for Gossip Central: she had the ability to put the most scandalous spin possible to any bit of information.

Mathena was remarkably unremarkable, not only when compared to her fellow gossiper Katrira, but also standing all by herself. You could sit right next to her and never notice that it was Mathena. She would have made a fantastic spy; but then, she was a lady. The same quality made her a fantastic gossip. If something secret was mentioned in a public or semi-public place within the palace, you could be sure that Mathena had been standing within hearing distance. And while she was not as good as Katrira in inventing scandalous twists, she was not bad. Her hair was mouse blond, her eyes grey and she was of average height, but few people would have been able to give a more detailed description.

Sumana was not a great beauty, but pretty. Her hair was auburn and her eyes hazel; she had a few freckles and her figure was curvy enough to attract gazes. She was more of a junior member of Gossip Central, because she had only recently arrived with the latest batch of newcomers from the convent. But her knowledge about the new girls and the ones yet to come made her useful. Additionally, she was very good at redistributing the gossip. Whenever they came up with delightfully scandalous new speculations, Sumana made sure that at least half the palace knew within the hour.

The three of them prided themselves about knowing everything of importance going on at the palace. But that they were generally know as "Gossip Central" throughout the palace or that more sensible ladies used them as bad examples to warn their young relatives or protégées about the dangers of gossiping, strangely escaped their otherwise all-hearing ears …

Lately, the three had a new favourite topic: Master Mage Numair Salmalín. He was maybe the ideal gossip target: the most powerful mage of the Realm, a mysterious past, some peculiar habits, strange periods of absence from the palace and an eye for beautiful women. The ladies might have been a little less avid to gossip about him, if his taste had not run towards curvy blondes, which neither of them was. Katrira in particular did not like to be overlooked and therefore the palace was flooded with gossip about Numair Salmalín.

"You won't believe what I just heard! Master Salmalís is gone – _again_! This is the third time within 4 month that he just vanished _into thin air_." Mathena was still gasping for air after having hurried through 6 long corridors and 3 staircases to reach the little parlour. Katrira raised her eyebrows at this (she had perfected that move in front of her mirror and it now perfectly expressed bored indulgence with the petty interests of others). "Oh? And right after Lady Penile basically _threw_ herself at him at the last ball … maybe he was afraid she would _choke_ him next time? I would be, she gained _so _much weight since Midwinter."

Sumana smiled maliciously. "Poor little Tally will be devastated, she had _such_ a crush on him. It was just _pitiful_ how she stared at him during the dinner for the Maren ambassador and he never even noticed. Well, she has no curves at _all_, so he probably sees right through her … " Actually, Poor Little Tally's crush was not worse than any of the other convent girls', but she was Sumana's favourite target. She was not as sensitive as Katrira when it came to being slighted, but after a few years of hearing in the convent almost every day about how perfect Tally was, she was ready for a little vengeance. "Then maybe he was not afraid of Lady Penile's weight, but of poor little Tally's irate father and brothers? They seem to think every male from the newest page to Sir Gareth the Elder is after their little darling's _virtue_. One _has_ to wonder what she has been up to, to make him so worried!" Since Tally was relatively new at court, inventing new rumors about her was more interesting for Katrita than discussing Lady Penile's weight problems. Sumira sniffed at that. "Well, if she has been up to something she kept it well hidden during convent, little teacher's per!" "Well, those are the worst!"

Mathena had enough about her grand news being ignored. "Oh, stop about boring little Tally. I doubt she has not done anything interesting since she was born the first girl after _five boys_! Where do you think _he_ has gone?" "Maybe to Pirate's Swoop again? He seems to be making an exception to his 'blonds-with-big-breasts' rule for _Sir_ Alanna." Like many ladies at court Katrira took personal offense with the female knight. "And right under her _husband's_ nose … well, if _he_ was a real man, he would not have married a female knight! He is probably _happy_ to have some other man interested in her for a time."

Sumana, who had only recently been introduced about all the juicy gossip about the Lioness younger days, was still doubtful about it. "I cannot imagine what _His Majesty_ ever saw in _her_!" As this was one of her all time favorite topics, Katrira jumped at the opportunity. "Well, His Majesty seems to have a weakness for _strange_ woman – look at Her Majesty with her ideas about educating commoners and the Riders and everything. I mean, that woman ruins a _ball gown_ to get a chance to shoot at some filthy bandits, which says about everything!"

At this point Gossip Central went down a familiar path of complains and slight ridicule about Queen Thayet, who was not only a foreigner with strange ideas but – unforgivable – the most beautiful woman in Tortall.


	2. Chapter 2: Input and Output

Disclaimer: It is still Tamora Pierce's, not mine, but I keep hoping ...

Input – Output

Katrira had a small frown on her face. She had spent the last hour flirting with a young man from the King's Own who had told her some interesting news about Numair Salmalín. Apparently, the young man's unit together with the Lioness had met him on the way to Corus and he had let slip that the mage had been in some kind of trouble. Katrira had tried to wheedle it out of him, but he had not relented and instead told her some tale involving his heroic deeds during an attack from strange creatures, that had the bodies of spiders with human heads. She hated it when her admirers kept secrets from her. Thinking back to the strange story, Katrira shivered slightly. Really, if he had to invent something to impress her, he should do so without mentioning spiders. And then to take third place behind the Lioness and some country girl from Scanra or wherever in his own story … stupid git! Well, if he did not want to tell her what really happened, she could certainly come up with something interesting on her own. Maybe some infuriated country noble trying to kill Salmalín because his wife had flirted with him …

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Mathena had a small smile on her face. She had spent the last 5 minutes listening to a conversation between Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Duke Baird concerning Numair Salmalín. Apparently, the mage had somehow been stuck somewhere (she had not been able to hear that part, because some noisy pages had run by her) and the Lioness had to get him out with the help of … Mathena had not really comprehended what they talked about, but guessed it had been some other powerful mage they met on the street, although that sounded strange. Duke Baird had said that all Master Numair needed was some magical rest, best coupled with a few days of vacation in order to make a full recovery of his gift and his mind (wasn't _that_ interesting!) and the knight had mentioned that he could do that while slowly travelling back to Corus with the horse mistress. She had seemed very relieved. Now Mathena needed to meet up with Katrira to talk about these latest news.

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Sumana had a proud look on her face. She had spent the morning with some friends from the convent, playing one of their favourite games from the convent days. They invented stories and whoever could draw the biggest emotional reaction from the audience (tears, sights, goose bumps and so on), won. She had always been quite good at the game and had become even better since she spent her time with Mathena and Katrira. Her story today had been quite melodramatic, involving a handsome young knight, a princess in distress, a flying unicorn, a purple demon with horns and fangs and a magical talking sword. In the end, when the heroic knight spoke his last words of love and regret to the princess, the whole audience had cried unabashedly. Needless to say that Sumana had won.

********************************

A few hours later, a new rumour went through the palace at lightening speed. Most people who knew the true story were speechless and could only shake their heads in astonishment. The Lioness was said to have thrown a temper tantrum, exploding an entire bottle of wine (although that might have been a slight exaggeration). Numair on the other hand, upon hearing it after arriving at the palace, could not stop laughing for long minutes and had uncontrollable giggling fits for the next 3 days, which brought him into problems during a council meeting. But really, he could not stop himself whenever he imagined how he supposedly had been seduced via a love potion by a mysterious woman he met at an inn, who had turned out to be a lady fleeing from her husband; how the jealous husband later arrived at the same inn, how Numair himself had to jump out the window, had been stuck there by a burglar repellent charm and almost got killed by the husband. Then the Lioness arrived and fought a duel with the husband, while a mysterious stranger had rescued Numair from the window. Numair himself had fled on the back of a talking purple unicorn ...


	3. Chapter 3: A New Arrival

Disclaimer: It is still Tamora Pierce's, not mine, but I keep hoping ...

A New Arrival

They were meeting in the parlour again. The night before last, there had been an incident: Stormwings had attacked the quarters of the Queen's Riders. They had been chased away by an assortment of mages (among them the king and Numair Salmalín) and archers, but most palace inhabitants had been shocked. There had been rumours about Immortals before, of course, but that those foul creatures dared to attack so close to the palace …

Katrira had developed a few ideas about blaming the whole thing on the unnaturalness of the new habits, women fighting, having a queen of a questionable lineage as a co-regent, and so on, but she decided against voicing them. The crown was usually quite lenient, but ideas like that came very close to treason. Mathena thought the whole incident to serious to adorn with little snippets of imagination as they usually did with gossip and Sumana, while being silly sometimes, had enough common sense to leave it alone, too. It was one of the rare occasions, where rumours developed naturally in the palace, without the help of Gossip Central. But due to the extreme circumstances, the fear and the great number of different eye witnesses, the end result was almost as colourful as if the girls had developed and spread it deliberately.

Today, they were in good form again, discussing the interesting fact that Numair Salmalín had apparently taken a new student. There was not much information on her to have in the palace. She was a commoner from Galla, a young girl who had been travelling with the master mage for a few days and was now the assistant of the Queen's Riders' Horse Mistress. And she was a bastard. Mathena had found out that she had been in a meeting with the King, Master Salmalín and the Horse Mistress. She had actually seen the King holding her hands when she passed by the closing door in a strategic moment!

"I bet she is a _gypsy_." Sumana was still young enough to find that romantic. "A gypsy?" A malicious grin left Katrira's face less attractive than usually. "She is probably a _common_ street whore he met on the road. I wonder what he should _teach_ her, she probably already knows all the dirty little tricks of the trade and could team _him_ something!" "I know it is not _magic_. I checked her and she doesn't have a _bit_ of the gift on her." Mathena did have enough magic to notice it in others.

After a moment of silence Mathena continued. "She is not his _usual_ type, you know. I got a small glance of her and she is rather small, with no curves at _all_; a brunette and she looks _very_ young. She is probably not even _fourteen_." "Well, those _commoner _girls start young. She probably dragged the country boys of to the haystack before she was _twelve_." Sumana made big eyes at that. "With eleven? Are you _sure_?"

Katrira did not deign to answer. Of course she did not have _any_ idea about the sexual habits of commoners, she was a _noble_! But it sounded well and to connect Salmalín's name with a flat-chested commoner of bad reputation (and that her reputation was the worst in the palace she would make sure of) seemed to be a fitting revenge after he all but ignored her advances when he came to Corus first and had affair after affair with women less beautiful that herself ever since. She _really_ did not like to be rejected.

"Travelling _alone_, what else could she be! And to become a whore at that age she must have a _strong_ inclination for it. She is probably sleeping with half the male Riders and a few of the _females_, too. How do _you_ think she got the job? I have _always_ suspected their Commander to like girls."

"Don't overdo it in the beginning, Katrira. She has only been here for _two _days and you had her sleeping with at least twenty people already. Let's start with Master Numair and a few _suggestions_ about how she got her job; that should do _for the beginning_. Agreed?" Mathena was smiling in anticipation. Palace gossip was going to become even more interesting …

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	4. Chapter 4: Too Unbelievable

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Too Unbelievable

Gossip Central was assembled once again. The official story about the attack on Pirate's Swoop had been announced at the palace a week ago: A physical and magical siege on the castle by pirates, with the aim to abduct the queen, the crown prince and the oldest princess, possible involvement of Carthak. The story was interesting enough, but as an official version existed, they had had to be careful with their embellishments again. Even so, they had not been able to resist the lure of letting one of the pirates be violently in love with the Queen (possible an old acquaintance come down in the world? you never knew with those people from Sarain …) and wasn't it interesting that the most powerful mage of the Realm was present, but could not fight the magical attack?

But today, Sumana had hit the jackpot. One of the other convent girls had made friends with Princess Kalasin, who had told her – in confidence – some of the details. That girl had not been able to resist bragging about her knowledge to her best friends, who then wheedled it out of her and one of them had entertained Sumana with an account of it.

"So you want to tell us that this new "student" of Master Salmalín saved the day by calling a _dragon _and a _sea monster_ to help defend the castle?" To Mathena it sounded like one of the more unbelievable rumour they themselves had fabricated in the past. "The little Princess must have a _vivid_ imagination … or she was playing a joke on Tomira."

"Well, I don't know why Princess Kalasin told her that story, but that's _exactly_ what she said." Sumana was indignant that her great story was being doubted.

"Little Kally does not have the imagination to fabricate a _talking rabbit_, let alone a dragon or a sea monster. If _Tomira_ did not invent it to brag in front of her friends, it must be at least _part_ true." (Kally was too young to be considered competition in Katrira's eyes and therefore she considered her an unworthy target for gossiping. Some belittling for her status as a Royal Princess but no vicious rumours was the standard as of now.)

"But _how_ could she command dragons or sea monsters? I mean, a _dragon_, for the Goddess sake! It is _impossible_ that that little nobody …" Mathena was searching for words.

"Let's see. _Maybe_ …" But even Katrira could not come up with something satisfactory and she rose from her chair to walk around the room in frustration. "How about … no, _damn _it! The whole thing is just _too_ unbelievable to twist around!"

"How about we just _leave_ it like that? Like with the stormwing attack? I mean, it is pretty _exciting_ already." Sumana was secretly proud that her story was providing the other two with such problems. Maybe now they would give her more credit for her sources.

"And let that little _nobody_ he calls his student be a _hero_? Never! Don't you _realize_ how the Royal Family will react if she played even a _minor_ part in rescuing the Queen, the Crown Prince and the Princess? They will _shower_ her with rewards and honours, they will give her an important _position_, they will regard that foreign _bastard_ with more esteem than they regard most Tortallian _nobles_! That is bad enough; we cannot have the whole court _fawning_ at her feet, too!" Her usual cool disdain had left Katrira and she was almost panting with rage. Sumana would have liked to put a little distance between them. She had never seen Katrira like this.

Mathena, knowing Katrira longer, knew that there was no reasoning with her in that state. She had to come up with a way to discredit the girl, and fast. "What if we … what if we suggest, that there _was_ no sea monster involved? That the whole story was _invented_? That … that the girl was so _eager_ for fame and honours that she … she slept with some strategically selected people in the Riders to make them spread this _ridiculous_ story? Maybe the Princess overheard some people talking about it?" She paused for a second, re-examining her idea and liking it more and more. "Yes, _that_ should work. The Princess' story will already be all over the palace by tonight and everyone will think how utterly _unbelievable_ it is. When _we_ start spreading that it was an attempt of the bastard girl to bring herself forward, they will rather believe _that_ story than that she really did it. The conservatives cannot want _another_ female hero around, if we give them an excuse, they will _happily _believe anything else. What do you think?"

Katrira was taking calming breaths and thought about the suggestion. It could work … "All right." She took another deep breath. "All right, let's work out the details."

...........................................

**AN:** Big Jump here to the end of the Wild Magic, but I think the rest of the storyline would not have made it to Gossip Central before the Big News hit, and afterwards it would have been uninteresting.

The events at the Swoop would have been reported to John as soon as possible. After a few moments of getting over the fact that he almost lost his wife and oldest children, he would have decided to keep as much as possible from the public. Tortall cannot appear weak before its enemies and the abduction plot almost succeeded! So he made the Tortallian equivalent of a press release which said only that an abduction attempt with a possible connection to Carthak had been thwarted through the strength of the Tortallian defenses and yada-yada-yada …

Of course he wanted to see his family at once. Thayet would not leave the training camp and so and the children were the first – and for some time the only – eye witnesses to arrive at the Palace (their escort had to leave again immediately and had no time to gossip about the events). Therefore Gossip Central had some margin to invent spread their story. By the time other witnesses told the real version, the gossip had made it through the Palace at least three time and some of it stuck in the heads of some nobles ...

Thanks for the reviews, please review some more! :-)


	5. Chapter 5: Verwandlung

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

AN: This is a little out of the chronological order. I am planning to do more chapters on the time between WM and WS, but this got stuck in my head and I had to get it out before doing something else.

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Verwandlung

Mathena growled in frustration. All day long she had seen excited whispers among the higher-ranking mages at court. From the snippets she had been able to hear here and there (mages were hard to eardrop on, because many of them kept up detection spells permanently and stopped talking when she came close) Master Salmalín had done something extraordinary, which excited and frightened the mages at the same time. Twice she heard them mentioning "black robes magic".

Just now, she had managed to get close enough to hear a conversation between the dean of the royal university and another mage without tripping their detection spell. And what was her reward? "Yes, it is most extraordinary to use that spell outside the university. It is part of the black robes examinations, of course, but most black robes never use it again afterwards. It is very dangerous to the mage himself and to the people surrounding him. Normally, there are at least 10 red robe mages or another back robe around to secure the place."

"I never would have expected it of Master Salmalín. Of course, he is a black robe, but he is so casual most of the time and he would not even do training duels, always says he is untalented in that area. All I ever saw him using his gift for were magical experiments so obscure everyone needed half an hour's explanation to understand why he did them, let alone how!"

"Well, I have seen him put his gift to use before, working with the king, and his casual act did not convince me he was harmless, but to attempt to use a Verwandlung Spell unprepared, in an uncontrolled environment … but then he pulled it of! According to the Lioness the Verwandlung was complete and there was no magical spill-over in the proximity. His student was standing close by and she was not affected at all! He has to be much more powerful than I thought, even after seeing him work with the king. They will still talk about it a 1000 years from now, I promise you."

What in Mithros name was a … Verwandlung Spell? Why couldn't these mages speak in words you could understand?

…

After telling her friends of this strange conversation and everything else she had heard today, they had some creative brainstorming, finally coming up with the following story:

Numair Salmalín had fought a mage duel with an old rival from his university days over a beautiful woman; in a rash action to save her, Salmalín had hit the other mage with his unsurpassed black robes power and had turned him into … an apple tree!


	6. Chapter 6: Reactions

AN: This takes place shortly after the events of Wild Magic, before the last chapter. I will correct the sequence once the Gossip Ladies start to hear about the events of Emperor Mage.

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Reactions

Sumana smiled as she was walking down the corridor towards her bedroom. It had been such a nice evening. She had giggled and gossiped with two of her friends from the convent, had been asked to dance more than the other two, and once even by their mutual crush, a special triumph. She had paid close attention to everything that had been said and done around her, as to have enough to tell to Katrira and Mathena tomorrow. Gossip was always good on the day after such a party. She almost started to skip like a little girl. Parties and more food for gossip, what more could one ask for?

Katrira was scowling. How dare these people, these commoners, try to move into her circle? They were laughing and dancing and chattering at the celebration as if they were nobles, as if they belonged. Oh, sure, they had been invited by their Majesties for a "Celebration for the Heroes of Pirate's Swoop" as they called it. All those Riders and especially that foreign bastard. "The Wildmage" they called her now! Master Numair had been heard to have said that she had the potential to be as powerful in her field as he was in his. She had no manners, no style, no breeding … Now the King and Queen favoured her. They preferred her to their own nobles! So what if she had helped to save the Queen and her children from being kidnapped? Why could they not just give her a purse of gold, pat her on the head and send her back to her place in life, where she belonged. Why did they have to invite her to a court festivity and honour her as a hero? The Wildmage! Oh, you just wait, you little bastard. Tomorrow you won't be liked so much. Just wait, when I am finished with you, you will never dare to show you face at court again!

Mathena was returning to her rooms in a thoughtful mood. The festivity had been interesting all in all but there had been one person who had surprised her. This Wildmage, as she was called now, was nothing like she had expected. She had been the only one who had seen her before the whole Pirate's Swoop incident, but it had only been a short view, barely enough to take in her general appearance. Now she had had more time to study her. The girl – for she was girl, and a young one, no doubt about it – was pretty, but she would never be a great beauty, no competition for Katrira. Her manners and general comportment had been surprisingly pleasant for a country bred commoner. She seemed to bee rather shy, but she was polite and respectful towards everyone, the conservatives who looked down their noses at her as well as the King and Queen who seemed to consider her a friend and probably would not have minded a more familiar manner. But she had talked mainly with a few of the Riders, Master Salmalín and the Lioness and she had left the celebration quite early. It was hard to develop gossip about someone behaving like that. Mathena thought that she could have actually liked her, if she were a noble girl, that was. Well, she was not, and as a protégée of the Queen and student of Master Salmalín, she could weather some gossip. Mathena smiled suddenly. She had always loved a challenge.

…………………………

Interesting rumours fluttered around the palace the next day. The Wildmage – the Wildchild! Animal attraction, indeed! A lover's quarrel between her and her `master´, so she had to leave the celebration early. Or maybe she had been meeting another lover in the garden and the black robe mage had been duped? Well, he had not mourned her for long, that was sure. A few male Riders had been leaving early too. And what was that about her birth? She was a common bastard. No wonder that she changed lovers more often than she changed her underwear. She had lived on the streets for months. Well, it was not so big a guess what she lived from … probably stole purses from her `clients´, too. On and on they went, becoming steadily more colourful.

………………………..

Numair Salmalín noticed that his student was very quiet and withdrawn today. He had expected her to be tired after last night's festivities, even if Onua had sent her to bed relatively early. But she also seemed unhappy, which confused him. Yesterday she had been happily anticipating her first party, and he had kept an eye on her to make sure she enjoyed herself and that there were enough people around her she was comfortable with. What had made her unhappy?

"Magelet, is everything all right? You seem bothered."

She looked up fast from the book she had been studying (Anatomy of Reptiles) and blushed slightly. "Sorry, Numair, I will concentrate now."

He grinned at her. "Everyone has a bad day now and then, especially after a night of celebrating being a hero. I was not speaking as your teacher, reprimanding you for a lack of attention, but asking as your friend if you were all right. Has something happened?"

Daine seemed relived at his first words, but with his last question, she seemed to get smaller in her chair. "It is nothing really …"

But it clearly was. "Daine, you know you can talk to me about everything, right? And if you feel you cannot talk to me about certain topics, you can talk to Onua or Alanna. We are your friends and if something is troubling you, we want to know so we can help."

At the word `friends´ she winced and her eyes filled with desperation. "I thought I had found a place where people accepted me, you know? In Snowsdale, the people hated me because I was a bastard and I was strange. They would allow me to work with their animals, but they would never invite me into their houses or let me play with their children. And after the bandit attack …" No, she would not go there. "When I came to Tortall, none of that seemed to matter. People accepted me, wanted to be my friends. Yesterday the King called me a heroine and compared me to the Lioness! But today on my way here, I heard some people talk … They called me `Wildchild´, said how I was a common bastard and lived on the streets and … probably stole …"

Numair felt the sudden urge to hunt down a few court gossips and … make them think they were screaming monkeys or … well, something nasty. He had seen Daine develop during the last month, slowing gaining more confidence, opening up towards her friends, and now she seemed as withdrawn as when he first met her. The only thing he was glad about was that she either had not heard or had not understood the rest of today's gossip, the sexual speculations and accusations. How was he supposed to deal with this?

"Daine … you know that you have friends who like you for yourself and do not mind your past. That hasn't changed one bit, gossips or no. The thing is, you cannot be liked by everyone without losing yourself. You will always offend someone. And gossip at court is vicious, but unstoppable. Neither me with all my magical powers, nor Alanna with her fighting skills, nor the King or Queen can protect you from it. It would only get worse if we tried. But that doesn't mean that your friends like you less or that those people gossiping about you actually hate you. To them, gossip is a form on entertainment and they participate, often without knowing the subject personally or even believing the rumours they help to spread."

Daine had seemed to calm down during his speech. She knew about gossip, had dealt with it in Snowsdale too, but she had not expected to encounter it in her beautiful new home. The last sentence had her frowning. "But that is stupid."

"Yes, it is. If people don't have enough to do, they sometimes find strange occupations for themselves. Try to think of it this way: As a target of the court gossips, you are in very good company with most of your new friends." He got a grin for his efforts at humour, before she returned her attention to the book. So, he would not hunt down court gossips today, which was actually a good thing, because – as he had told Daine – it would really just create more rumours.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The last part was my first attempt to write Daine and Numair in person. Personally, I am content with the outcome, but I might be prejudiced.

Please review!


	7. Chapter 7: Frustration

Disclaimer: Daine, Numair and the Tortall Universe belong to Tamora Pierce.

AN: I am sorry this is very short, but I am lacking inspiration. Do you have ideas or wishes?

Frustration

Gossip Central was meeting again. They had caused a major scandal just a few days earlier by revealing a formerly secret affair between the Lady of Tearshope and a young sergeant of the King's Own. The interesting thing in this affair (beside the married status of the lady) had been the age difference, for she was nearly 40 and he not even 20. Her husband had sent her away to their fiefdom in shame, but had refused to duel the young soldier, claiming that his rank was beneath him. As he was nearing 70, it was more likely that the sergeant's skills with the sword were above him. Anyway, Gossip Central should have been very pleased with themselves for the time being. They were not.

The reason for their dissatisfaction was the lack of rumours about their new favourite target, a certain black-robe mage's pupil. Since the celebration two weeks ago, there had been absolutely no interesting happenstances they could have twisted and turned into a passable rumour. She continued to work with the riders, but was out in the open or surrounded by too many people to show suspicious behaviour. In the evenings, she had lessons with Master Numair. Sure, they had speculated about what her handsome teacher was showing her in his rooms, but as he had started a very public affair with a beautiful blond widow two days after the celebration of the heroes of Pirate's Swoop, those speculations lacked credibility.

They had tried to spice things up by adding the rumour that somebody had passed by the mage's door one night and had heard loud and rhythmical moaning, but that had backfired at them because that night the pair had been on Balor's Needle to learn about astronomy. Talk about bad luck. Not only had their rumours not been believed, they had also lost a great opportunity. Stargazing Lovers! Scandalous Behaviour under the Stars! Almost-Public Sex! The Wildchild Preferred to be Out in the Open! It was all very frustrating.

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